Cover

Frontmatter

Title Page

Contents

List of Tables and Figures

Foreword

In our teaching of criminology and criminal justice, we have neglected the works of African American writers who have contributed to our understanding of crime and delinquency in our communities. We have not utilized the scholarly works of...

Introduction

This volume originated out of a meeting between authors at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meeting held in Chicago, Illinois, in 1994. During their conversation, both authors expressed...

Part I: Historical Scholars

Overview

One hundred years ago, African Americans were struggling with adverse social,
economic, and political conditions.
Following Reconstruction, they experienced severe oppression that included
Jim Crow laws, lynchings, and disenfranchisement. More often than not, they were
viewed as both inferior and criminal. When the University of Chicago established the
first department of sociology in the country...

1. Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was an antilynching and civil rights activist at the end of the
nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. In spite of her national and
international reputation and membership in the Negro elite of Chicago, her contributions
have been sorely neglected until very recently. This was due, at least in part,
to the masculinity of the civil rights movement. Furthermore...

2. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois

Of the African American scholars profiled in the historical era, W. E. B. Du Bois
represents one who may be considered a “pioneer.” In the case of Du Bois, along with
his pioneering contributions to criminology/criminal justice, the label pioneer is also
applicable to his contributions in other areas, including history, race relations, sociology,
and civil rights activism (Broderick, 1974). While his primary criminological
contributions span a five-year period (1899–1904), they nonetheless...

3. Monroe Nathan Work

Monroe Work, described by McMurray (1985) as a pioneer African American sociologist,
lived during a time of widespread acceptance of racial doctrines supporting
white supremacy and black inferiority. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a few
African Americans, including Work, were admitted to (white) undergraduate and
graduate programs, but they were rarely accepted as scholars or hired...

4. E. Franklin Frazier

E. Franklin Frazier was a pioneer in African American studies and sociology. He was
an outspoken scholar, militant, and race man and was viewed as an “improper” Negro
for his time.1 He purposely chose to be a scholar and not a leader in an effort to
devote his time and energy to intellectual achievements. According to Drake (1967),
Frazier viewed his scholarly work as a contribution to shattering...

Part II: Contemporary Scholars

Overview

We begin the contemporary perspectives with the decade of the 1960s. Over the last
thirty-five years African Americans became even more heavily involved in the study of
crime and the criminal justice system. This was a direct result of increased educational
opportunities and the desegregation of colleges and universities. Of equal importance
were the civil rights movement and the black power movement. These two movements
further instigated the interest of African Americans...

5. Coramae Richey Mann

A latecomer to the world of academe at the age of forty-five, Coramae Richey Mann
has made up for her late start with tremendous scholarly productivity. Over the past
twenty plus years, Mann has been a consistent contributor to the criminology/criminal justice literature in primarily three areas: female crime and delinquency,
violence, and minorities and crime. Because of her significant efforts in these areas,
she is generally viewed as one of the leading African...

6. William Julius Wilson

A product of extremely humble beginnings, William Julius Wilson has risen to the
apex of the academic establishment. Many consider Wilson, a sociologist, one of the
preeminent scholars of the last quarter of the twentieth century. His most significant
works focus on race, class, and specifically the underclass or the truly disadvantaged
(those persons remaining in the depths of poverty within the...

7. Lee Patrick Brown

In December 1997, the Honorable Lee P. Brown was elected mayor of Houston,
Texas. His election as Mayor is historic for many reasons. First, he is Houston’s first
African American mayor. Second, this is the first time he has been elected to a public
office. Third, his educational background and experience are in law enforcement and
criminal justice. Prior to his election, Mayor Brown...

8. Darnell Felix Hawkins

Darnell Felix Hawkins represents an individual whose scholarship, like that of others
in this volume, has been devoted to the study of African Americans and the criminal
justice system. Much of his work has specifically focused on analyses of issues such as
violence (particularly black-on-black homicide), theoretical criminology, the over-representation
of African Americans in the criminal justice system, and ethnicity and
crime. Hawkins has also sought to assist in the creation...

9. Daniel E. Georges-Abeyie

Daniel E. Georges-Abeyie is a professor in the Administration of Justice Department
and associate dean for international studies at Arizona State University West in
Phoenix, Arizona. He has made outstanding contributions to both criminological
thought and the administration of justice during the past two decades. As a result of
his interdisciplinary research on a wide range of topics, including arson, bombings,
the geography of crime, ghetto formation and maintenance...

10. Vernetta Denise Young

One of the first African American women to receive a doctorate in criminology or
criminal justice, Vernetta Young has produced several important publications in the
areas of black female criminality, the historical development of juvenile institutions,
and African American contributions to criminology and criminal justice. Her 1980
publication, “Women, Race, and Crime,” is a classic response to the liberation
hypothesis, which has been one of the most controversial theories...

Conclusion

Throughout this book we have presented the contributions of each scholar to criminological
thought. Here we will focus more specifically on their influence within
criminology and criminal justice. While the individuals included in this book and
their works are known to some, their influence on the discipline has never been
studied and is very difficult to assess without additional research. We do know they
have influenced each other as well as others studying...

About the Authors

Helen Taylor Greene is an associate professor and graduate program co-director in
the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University in
Norfolk, Virginia. She completed her Ph.D. at the Department of Criminology...

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